Signs of spring: Food trucks bring buffet of options to Whitehorse

Summer is coming: the snow is (mostly) gone, the temperatures are (somewhat) rising and the food trucks are (almost) here. This year’s batch of food trucks taking over the city won’t disappoint Yukoners craving tasty lunches.

There will also be options for vegans, vegetarians and people looking for gluten-free food, said Katie Thom, owner and operator of the food truck.

“It’s going be an eclectic menu that changes each week,” she said.

Thom has been cooking since she was 16, and for the past 10 years has been talking about operating a food truck. But the globetrotter never stayed in one place long enough to fulfill her dream, until she moved to Whitehorse two years ago.

Her food truck will be offering a mix of various gastronomies.

“It’s going to be a total mix,” she said. “I love Mexican food — there’s probably going to be some Mexican choices.”

And there will be meat pies, lots of them.

“I spent a lot of time in Australia where the meat pie is king.”

Thom’s truck will open Wednesday to Friday at the waterfront wharf across from the MacBride Museum, from May to June. It will also serve brunch on the weekend, and will be open seven days a week from July to September.

Daat Indian Cuisine

Gone — for now — are the days Whitehorse residents have to travel all the way to Skagway for some well-deserved butter chicken.

Vicky Dhillon started operating her Indian food truck May 1 in the parking lot near Pizza Hut on Second Avenue.

Ever since the owner of Quiznos had a stand at the Fireweed Community Market last year selling Indian food, her customers have been asking her to open a food truck. One of her customers even found her a truck she could use.

It’s only been one day but her food truck is already a hit.

“I’m getting lots of phone calls,” she said.

The food truck will run all summer long, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Dhillon is cooking all the food herself while still managing Quiznos.

That can seem a lot, but not to Dhillon who’s been in the food industry for 34 years.

“When you run (a) McDonald’s for 15 years you can do anything,” she said.

Ski Bum Pizza

Have you ever seen a 1984 Canada Post van with a wood-fired pizza oven?

Tara Paczkowski and her partner found the van in Vancouver and got a full commercial kitchen installed, including a wood-fire oven.

“Eric and I would like to serve pizza in the summer and then ski all winter,” Paczkowski said.

“We thought it would be a fitting (name).”

The couple, based in Atlin, has been experimenting with different recipes during “Atlin pizza parties” in recent weeks.

There will be three choices of pizza, a simple margherita, a vegetarian and a deluxe pizza.

For the veggie and deluxe they’ll be using different local ingredients for toppings as they become available.

The wood stove fire is actually much smaller than people picture, Paczkowski said.

“We just have a small flame going at all time,” she said. “We feed it kindling throughout the day and it maintains the heat really well.”

Ski Bum Pizza will be serving pizza at the corner of Steele and Third Tuesday to Saturdays.

Except for Daat Indian Cuisine, which is already open, all the food trucks are expected to start serving food by mid-May.